


The Happiest Place on Earth

by PinguinoSentado



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff, SO MUCH FLUFF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-01
Updated: 2016-05-01
Packaged: 2018-06-05 18:11:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6715786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PinguinoSentado/pseuds/PinguinoSentado
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Piper and Nora stumble into an old amusement park and spend the evening enjoying the sights. Much fluff ensues, plus lots of bickering like an old married couple.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Happiest Place on Earth

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Pipedream](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pipedream/gifts).



> Fluff by Tumblr request! Thanks so much to Pipedream for the fun prompt that I kind of ran away with. Hope it turned out all right.

“What do you mean, I always pick?”

Nora stopped at the curb and watched Piper put on an undignified pout. “Well, you do.”

“Because I lived out here,” the argument was older than Nora but still, every few days, it rose from the grave with new and unwanted life. “We tried having you pick, remember?”

“And we’re still alive, aren’t we?”

“Because we shot our way out every time,” Nora said flatly. “Remember the high school? I told you –“

“That there were Raiders, and I said we could handle them, and we did,” Piper crunched her way over broken glass and walked right up to her beleaguered girlfriend. “How was I supposed to know the place was full of Mirelurks?”

Again Nora’s voice was level and calm. “Because I told you there would be. I saw the big-ass hole in the ground and I told you not to jump in. But you wanted a story. So tell me, Miss Wright, what was the great, gaping hole in the ground hiding from the world? What great truth did you uncover beneath the streets of Boston?”

Piper rolled her eyes and grumbled. “I’ll show you a gaping hole.”

“What was that?”

“Nothing,” Piper sighed and went back to pouting. “Come on, Blue, please? I want to explore.”

Nora thought about saying the obvious. Piper always wanted to explore. Even the Glowing Sea had not escaped her idle curiosity, though she had thankfully never asked Nora to take her. She would walk through hell and back for the pesky journalist but that did not mean she wanted to.

But Piper Wright had a trump card, a pressure point that Nora was helpless to resist. And, as she made her damn puppy-dog eyes, Nora felt herself caving.

“Fine,” she groaned, watching through lidded eyes as Piper did her little victory dance. “But you owe me.”

“I’ll make it up to you,” Piper said excitedly. “Anything you want.”

“Two months,” Nora responded instantly. “We don’t leave Diamond City for two months.”

Oh, the horror that crossed that lovely face. “Two months?”

“That’s my price, Miss Wright. Two months alone, just you, me, and Nat. A little family time at home.”

And now began the haggling. Nora would honestly settle for two hours at this point. She was begging for an excuse to take her boots off, lay her head back on an honest pillow, and do some uninterrupted sleeping. Her feet hurt, her legs hurt, her arms hurt, everything just hurt.

“Okay.”

“Fine, I’ll –“ Nora blinked dumbly. “What?”

Piper smiled, a very odd look on her face. “Okay. Two months.”

Her tongue did little dances behind her teeth as her fingers waggled back and forth. Piper always argued. She never wanted to sit still for longer than it took to peck out her latest edition of The Diamond City Anarchist. As long as there were stories to tell, as long as there were people out there who needed a helping hand, or at the very least a meddling one, Piper would not rest.

It took a good bit of awkward fumbling for Nora to finally get the word out. “Why?”

Another of Nora’s pressure points, Piper’s easy, loving smile made the whole question seem silly. “It sounds nice.”

Part of Nora perked up at that, sure the woman was hiding something behind that smile, but the rest of her was smart enough not to care. She was going to get Piper all to herself and no one would be taking shots at them. Even better, they would be falling asleep together on an actual mattress, not taking restless catnaps on broken concrete.

“Okay,” the world seemed a little brighter when she focused solely on Piper. “Well, lead the way.”

Piper sashayed her way down the road, her loyal companion right behind. It was an odd feeling. Nora always felt like she was dragging Piper around, but when it came right down to it, the charming woman’s insatiable curiosity was the driving force behind so many of their adventures. Every time Nora got her say, they stayed home all day, ate breakfast on the couch, and found excuses to get Nat out of the house for twenty minutes.

Life was just more vibrant with Piper.

“So, is this deathtrap at least nearby?” being away from Piper’s charming smile had let Nora’s tongue regain its edge.

“Yes,” Piper sighed wearily. “If you’d quit complaining, we’d get there faster.”

If anything, Nora’s incessant bitching made Piper walk faster, but it did not seem like a good thing to point out. Instead, she kept her mouth shut and kept walking.

Where they were going became apparent soon enough. Nora remembered walking down this street when she was a little girl. When they came to the enormous parking lot, she felt her legs start to shake with glee. There, above the collapsing wall, shone the giant clock tower. And there was the Ferris wheel. She could see little bits of colored tile poking up here and there. Suddenly she was five years old again. She could have squealed.

Piper seemed oblivious. “Geez, what’s with all this space? It looked closer from the highway.”

“I’ve never seen it this empty,” Nora scampered past her. “Come on, slowpoke! I want a funnel cake!”

She heard another groan from Piper. “Now you’re just making shit up.”

“No, they were like donuts but covered in powdered sugar and the size of a dinner plate,” Nora held her arms out in exaggeration.

“Oh, the wonders the old world did achieve. I’m starting to think all your pre-war glory was centered around food and all the robots and cars and televisions just happened by accident.”

Nora laughed and forced herself to wait for Piper to catch up. She wanted to argue but, really looking back, she kind of liked that view of America. It had a certain simplicity to it and was much more fun to remember than the doom-and-gloom, greed and corruption rhetoric so common to the evening news.

“Come on, come on,” she grabbed Piper’s hand and started dragging her toward the ticket booths. “I don’t want to have to wait in line.”

“What is the matter with you?” Piper failed to stifle a laugh as she was tugged toward the gate.

“I came here all the time when I was a girl. I never thought I’d see it again.”

Her entire body was vibrating as she picked her way through the gate where a huge sign still read _The Happiest Place on Earth_. Nora practically ran down the main boulevard. She could still hear her father telling her to slow down while she blatantly ignored him and went straight for the candy shop on the corner.

She did not even realize she had walked inside until she heard Piper messing with the door behind her. “See something?”

“Yeah, I –“ Nora turned and was stunned to see Piper had drawn her pistol. It took her a full second to remember she was not a little girl anymore. “No. Sorry, I was just… remembering.”

Piper looked around the quiet building. The huge, plastic tubes in the ceiling were so dusty they almost hid the colorful candies still hidden inside, perfectly preserved in that old-world obsession with food. A few of the bins below had broken open but the rest still looked sealed. Carefully picking her way over the once-vibrant tile floor, Nora opened one of the bins and heard herself gasp.

It was like opening a treasure chest. She was sure the little candies gave off their own, golden light that bathed her face as she opened the lid. Piper crept up beside her as she plucked one, tiny piece off the top.

“Don’t tell me you’re gonna eat that,” Piper grimaced.

Into Nora’s mouth it went. “This from the girl who… oh, wow.”

“Told you.”

“No,” Nora picked up a handful and shoved them in Piper’s face. “Try them.”

“What?!”

“Open your mouth and close your eyes,” Nora sang, shoving a handful of sour balls into her face and giggling at her own wit. “Come on, you’ll eat those moldy old gumdrops but you won’t try these?”

“Fine,” Piper picked one from the top of the pile. “Just never say that again.”

“No promises.”

With the slow, deliberate motion of a woman expecting to be poisoned, Piper bit the tiny sweet in half and chewed. Nora watched as her eyes widened, her mouth curving down as the taste hit her, and the other half vanished into her mouth.

“See?”

Piper dug her own handful out of the crate. “Oh, shut up.”

Her own mouth now stuffed full of candy, Nora mumbled “Make me.”

They went up and down the line, sampling candies and indulging Nora’s ego as Piper was proven so horribly wrong. She even went looking for bags to stuff full of the little treats, insisting that they were for Nat. Nora rolled her eyes and laughed and stuffed her own pack full. Like Piper had said, it was for Nat.

“So that’s what this whole place was?” Piper asked as she finally dragged Nora out into the street. “Candy shops?”

“No! There were rides and toy shops and restaurants and shows,” Nora could still see them as clearly as if they had happened yesterday. “You and Nat would have loved it.”

“I bet,” Piper was grinning as she watched Nora wander down memory lane. “All right, I need you focused here, Blue. You made promises about these funnel cake things.”

Nora laughed and began marching dramatically toward the still-standing Ferris wheel. “You’ve had enough sugar for today. Let’s go see the rides. I don’t want to have to wait in line.”

“You keep saying that,” Piper moaned as she fished into her pockets for candy. “But if we see any lines, we’ll have more problems than just waiting in them.”

She had a point. As much as Nora wanted to indulge herself and wander happily down the side streets, every broken shop or rusted roller coaster could harbor dozens of feral Ghouls. She could easily imagine a Raider camp being set up in one of the food courts or even a Deathclaw making itself at home in one of the indoor rides. Suddenly the bumper cars held very little appeal.

With the sun dipping low, Nora hauled Piper into a nearby plaza and turned a slow, thoughtful circle. They needed to find a place to bed down and she did not trust Piper to find it. Not that she had anything against Piper, it was just that the woman had an unbelievable knack for finding trouble.

She was also not horribly patient. “Blue? Lookin’ for something in particular?”

Nora, having turned around twice now, gave up and pointed at the distant clock tower. “That.”

Piper whistled. “That’s… a lot of stairs.”

“Oh, quit whining. The view will be amazing.”

“Sure, just the thing to keep us entertained as we plummet to our deaths.”

“Drama queen,” Nora was reasonably sure the tower was still sound. They built these things to last. Right? “Besides, you picked where we’re camping tonight. I’m just finding the best spot.”

The glare Piper gave her told her not to push her luck, but the curiosity of Piper Wright was not to be ignored. “Fine.”

They crossed the park in gleeful silence. Nora practically skipped, her inner child clapping her hands and looking for more candy while the hardened survivor took a much-needed break. There were no lines, no Raider gangs hiding behind the bushes or inside the arcade games lining the street.

They only stopped once. The sound of a plate shattering brought Nora spinning around, rifle in hand. Piper was palming a baseball, a confused but well-satisfied grin spreading over her face. Nora watched as she lazily snapped the ball down the lane and broke another of those pre-war plates lining the shelves.

“Trying to impress me?” Nora asked.

“Is it working?”

“A little. One more and you’d walk away with a stuffed bear as tall as you.”

One eyebrow rose in amusement. “And that impressed you pre-war girls?”

Another plate exploded as Piper, without so much as looking, hurled a third baseball over the counter. She smiled easily. “Well, I don’t have any big stuffed animals. Think you can make do with yours truly?”

Nora rolled her eyes. “You’re terrible.”

Onward into the tower, up the millions of stairs, and through the broken doors they went. Nora would never admit it but Piper really had been right about how horribly far it was to the top. It was not like the park was hurting for good campsites. She could have picked any other single-story building. Or the ground, even. Anything would have been better than this.

That was what she thought until they reached the roof. With a few bullets and a hard shove, the steel door creaked open and revealed the sunset Nora had been imagining since laying eyes on the tower.

Piper gasped softly. “It’s amazing.”

Nora pointedly caught her breath before answering. “Worth all those stairs, lazy?”

A small laugh escaped Piper before she gave Nora a gentle shove. “Yeah, maybe.”

“See?” Nora said as she cleared away a space for them to sleep. “You’re not the only one who can impress a lady.”

Piper rolled her eyes before barring the door and settling in beside Nora. Together they watched the sky burn its brilliant orange before cool and tired violet swept it away, trailing a blanket of starlight that soon stretched from horizon to horizon.

Nora felt Piper’s head come to rest on her shoulder. She smiled and made the sleeping woman more comfortable. It had been such a busy day for the poor girl. Nora remembered her first time walking through those gates. She had fallen asleep in her father’s arms even before they had left the park. Even if it was not the same as it was back then, she wanted to believe a little of that excitement had been there for Piper’s first time.

Hardly an hour later she was awake again, eyes bleary and beautiful as she looked up at the vast sea of stars. Nora gave her a little nudge. “I bet you don’t get a view like this in Diamond City.”

Piper shook her head and said nothing.

Nora let the moment linger. She let herself be swept back before the war, before Deathclaws and Ghouls and Synths. She wished she could rewind time, take Piper back to when things were better and let her live out a peaceful, happy life. Piper, of course, would never stand for that. Even if Nora could bring them back, the Publick would not stay quiet. She would be out there, bringing hell to those in power.

She failed to suppress a shiver of fear as she imagined Piper Wright in army fatigues, determined to bring the truth of the war home to the people.

Her hold on the woman grew just a bit tighter, the kiss on her forehead meant to keep her still, safe in Nora’s arms. Piper, sweet and beautiful and brave, settled down in Nora’s arms. “Know any of those stars, Blue?”

Stargazing had never been Nora’s first hobby, but she was willing to lie about it. “A few,” she pointed at the two she actually knew. “That’s the Big Dipper. And that would be the North Star.”

Piper nodded and settled deeper. “Mhm.”

It was painfully obvious she wanted more. Nora cursed herself for not spending more time looking at the sky in her younger years. “Well, way over there is Orion’s Belt. And that one on the horizon is Sirius. See the dog?”

More nodding. She still wanted more? How long was she supposed to keep doing this?

“I think we can see Cancer from here,” Nora lied, looking around for a cluster she could point at and lie about. “Um, maybe not. Oh, over there is Leo. Let me see… that would be Taurus over there. And see that really bright spot by the moon? I’m pretty sure that’s actually Mars.”

Piper lolled her head back and grinned. “You’re cute when you’re trying to impress me.”

Nora sighed in relief. “Good, because I have no idea what I’m talking about.”

“You don’t have to try, dollface,” Piper pressed closer and kissed Nora’s cheek. “You’re doing just fine.”

Nora beamed. As Piper nestled deeper into Nora’s open arms, the lucky woman’s mind went back to wandering the stars. There was so much she wanted to share with Piper and with Nat. After the Vault, she had never thought she would feel this way again. She thought Nate and Shaun had been the end, that the world would never again bless her with so much joy in her life.

“Hey,” Nora whispered as Piper began to drift off. “Why did you agree to that, anyway?”

Piper made a sleepy noise. “What?”

“Two months in Diamond City. No adventures. I thought you were going to argue me down to two hours but you didn’t.”

“Oh?” A knowing smile crossed Piper’s face. “You didn’t figure it out?”

“What?”

The smile turned from knowing to sweet, her twinkling eyes softening from amused to loving. “You said you wanted to spend time alone with Nat and me,” Piper’s voice was a whisper. “With your family.”

It took a moment for the word to sink in. Family.

“Is that how you see us?” Piper asked. “Your family?”

Nora’s body was a mess of pins and needles as her heart tried to beat its way through her chest and into Piper’s. “Uh… I… Yes. Yeah, I do. Is that, not, uh…”

Piper had never been patient. She did not wait to see where Nora was going. Not that she had anything in mind. It was a wonderful mercy when Piper’s lips cut her off. Even sweeter was the feeling of Piper’s hands running themselves up Nora’s arms and easing her back onto the rooftop.

“I’ve been waiting for you to say that.”


End file.
